The Portland daily press., 1887-02-22
PRICE THREE CENTS.


proficient. Billiards Is a fayorite game Tor
those patients who can 20 to the billiard
room. But these games are seen only in
what are termed the mildest wards, for the
classification Of patients Is made by wards,
there being one ward for very violent "a.
| tients, other wards for various milder types
| Of insanity, ward for suicides, another FOR
eonvaleseents, etc. There are, as has been
stated, over thirty wards, and as many
classes OF patients. But while the insane In
some wards are on good terms with each
other, they do not generally make
CoNPANIONsHIPs
among themselves. An insane person much
prefers the companionship Of a sane person
to that OF one like himself But in the vio-
lent wards there is little companionshlp Of
any sort and little PARTICIPATION In the mod
est ulsSipations Of cards or checkers. These
i wards are distinguished for their restless
| ness. In some Of the quiet wards visitor
| Is little needed. or at least approached only
| by some mild hammered .erank" who has
some instruction on the Bible 10 give, or
some story OF fancied wrong, as when one
man gravely told us, with evident indigna-
tiOn, that they had tried TO make him take a
pension. But In a violent ward 1t Is different.
Doctor, what gentlemen are these, was
the peremptOry demand Of a
STOUT NEGRO,
in the most violent ward, patient ON whom
the attendants don't like to turn their backs
Zone Of the gentlemen" replied DIR. San
born, sis from the beautiful Forest City, and
the other from the Kennebec village Of Wa
teryille."
free American citizen, In the possession Of
my right mind, who am kept here a prisoner,
although this Is not prison. / want this
investigated. The doctor here knows that
am in my right mind"
BY this time the others In the ward have
gathered around, and a man comes forward
who believes that he Is confined in a castle
In province Of France, and that the doctor
Is
KING or THAT REGION.
He has long story Of oppression, all con-
fused with accounts Of the royal genealogies
OF Prussia and Poland, and imaginary king
doms, and before he gets through he Is smit--
Ing his fists and raving terribly, while the
other maniacs are looking on with the great
est gravity. In violent" ward, an attack
on an attendant or doctor Is not infrequent:
Dut the violently insane never combine to do
any harm. II they did. 1t would be much
more serious task to care for them.
When patient gets too violent, the only
alternative Is 70 put MIN into the strong
room" The strong room Is a ward by itself,
with small rooms about 1Ox8 feet In size,
opening of ON either side. But these rooms
are very different from the rooms In the 9TH
no furniture In the room that could either be
smashed OF used as a weapon. The door Is
made Of
PLANK, -FOUR INCHES THICK,
with small, square opening, placed at such
height that the patient may look out. A
small shelf, OF sill, at the outside Of the win
dow gives a resting place from which the pa
tient may take his food. Through the open
ing he talks with his attendant, or the doc
tor, In his quieter moods, or, In his more vio-
lent moments reaches out for the throat Of
the unwary listener. An attendant was
nearly ehoked to death not long ago; and
there IS now in the strong room" one man
who Is waiting for an opportunity 10 put the
doctor out Of the way, having been directed
10 do so by divine command Sometimes
patients are confined In one Of these strong
rooms for years going out only under
strong guard of attendants Others are kept
In only until their madness has subsidized
The
'sTRoNG ROOM"
Is a very useful room, and saves the hospital
many tragedy.
Another class Of patients who require
nearly as much watching as those who are
liable to or feel themselves bound to kill
some one else, are those who want to kill
themselves. 1t is not always possible to tell
whether patient Is suicidal. Sometimes
one will show no such tendency for years,
eNtyfev fffitdt, eoffHffts stfciue.-Bur
generally this class Of patients are under
stood, and they are kept together In a ward
by themselves, where they are watched
carefully. Ordinarily patients sleep each In -
his own room, but the suicides are kept to-
gether Ia one large room, for the reason that
they are less liable to attempt their own
But the number Of patients who are dan
gerous, either to themselves or to others, do
not make up the most Of the great family at
the hospital There are as well large con-
gregation Of the ''eranks" Of the State, per-
sons whose minds dwell continually on
strange and unaecountable fancies. An old
gentleman who q few years ago, astOnshed
the people OF Maine city by
PAINTING HIS HORSE
fantastic colors, now dwells in great con-
tentment at the hospital, talking ''horse" to
wondering listeners for three hundred and
sixty-fye days in the year. Another man
talks Of law and lawsuits continually. And
In the brief periods that he has been free
from the hospital has showed that the bent
Of his unreason Is towards the law. He
once sued the authorities of his native town
for committing him to the hospital. When
unsuccessful In this he betook himself to the
Rangeley region finding there landlord
who was growing old and wanted TO sell his
hotel to someone who would manage It and
allow him rooms and board for the rest OF
his days. Our litigious friend Immediately
bought the hotel and commenced to run IL.
He turned the old landlord out and aston
ished the people OF THAT region with hotel
kept as no hotel was ever kept before. The
end OF this was a lawsuit at Pennington,
wherein the state OF the new landlords
mind was discovered. The court sent him
to Augusta where he now dreams of unnum-
bered prosecutions and defences in the quiet
ward Of the hospital
But he who imagines that the hospital is
merely a pleasant prison for such unfor-
tunate men and women as need 20 be taken
from the busy and happy world, has gained
an altogether wrong impression Of the OBJ
jects and uses Of the Institution. The very
first object Of the Institution Is TO
CURE THE PATIENT
II possible. The patient Is treated as other
sick people are treated-wlth medicine and
care But the care of an insane patient Is
very far from that bestowed In cases Of ordi-
nary illness. The care amounts to a regular
treatment the doctors call it the "moral
treatment" And this moral treatment Is
very elaborate. In the first place the pa
tlents are induced to work as much as pos
sible. Every month OF last year from quar-
ter TO third Of the men in the hospital
worked either about the wards or out OF
doors; OF the women, from over third TO
over a half worked every month In the year.
The men who work out OF doors labor on the
farm or In the garden generally. frhe women
work either In the wards, the kitchen, the
laundry or the sewing room. In the summer
all who can are encouraged 10 take out Of
door exercise; they play eroquet, work about
the grounds, or are taken TO ride In the large
hospital carriage. Some Of them are allowed
to
60 OUT ON PAROLE
and roam at will. The doctor tells them that
they may do as they wish for the day, only
with the agreement that they must be back
to dinner or to supper, or at some stated
time. DIR. Sanborn says 1t Is very rare that
one of them ever breaks the agreement. But
1t is during the cold months OF the long win
ter that the ingenuity of the doctors and at
tendants is taxed to the utmost to keep the
patients eontented and cheerful. Thirty-hve
years ago Colonel Black Of Ellsworth gave 20
the hospital $4,000, the income Of which
should be used for the purchasing of books
and the maintenance Of library, which
now contains several hundreds Of volumes
Governor COburn's will also gives $3.50 to
the hospital as fund for supplying books
and papers and music for the patients.
ALL THE DAILY PAPERS
Of the State and many frop out Of the State
are taken and read with eagerness by the
patients. They also read great many
books, some Of them too many, the doctors
think. Light literature such as novels, Is